It Could Have Been Worse
by Aracertariel
Summary: The Scoobies were actually pretty fortunate in their choice of costume. Willow bumped into stuff. Buffy learned French. Xander wound up with a lot of new, useful information. It could have been worse.
1. It Could Have Been Worse

Disclaimer: Do not own.

* * *

Willow dresses up as a ghost for Halloween. It is safe and comfortable under her "Boo" sheet where no one can see the far too revealing clothes that Buffy picked out and somehow talked her into putting on. ( _What is this costume even supposed to be?_ she wonders. _A hooker?_ ) She wants to catch Xander's attention, but it feels wrong to do it by putting her flesh on display like that.

Then Ethan's spell takes hold and she really is a ghost, and everyone can see her, and she can't even put on a jacket to cover herself. Worse still, she seems to be the only one who actually remembers who she is, and the dangers that lurk in the darkness. It's up to her. So she fights down the bubbling rage at Buffy for putting her in this situation, and Xander for not remembering her, and Giles for his comments on her clothes which weren't her fault anyway, and does what she has to.

Its weeks before she stops running into things, and longer before she (mostly) regains her emotional equilibrium. She never does lose her new need to take risks just because she's _alive_ and can affect the world around her. But that's not so bad (usually) and is even useful (except when it's not) and gets them out of trouble sometimes (when it hasn't caused it in the first place).

On the whole, it could have been worse.

* * *

Buffy dresses up as an 18th century noblewoman. She feels beautiful, like a princess. She does not feel like herself. She doesn't feel like the Slayer. She hopes her costume will succeed in catching Angel's attention. She wants him to see that she is grown up, that she is refined and elegant like the ladies he must have known when he was alive.

When the spell takes hold, she is afraid. The world is suddenly dark and dirty, and she is lost in this place full of monsters and ruffians. The only decent gentleman she meets turns out to be a demon. She is assaulted, and nearly murdered.

Afterwards, she gets to beat up Spike a bit. He gets away, but the hits she gets in mean that the night isn't a total loss. Angel reassures her that he likes her just the way she is, which is nice too. Buffy retains enough memories to pass her French class without really trying. She also remembers table settings and the names and uses of (literally) hundreds of pieces of silverware and dishes. She remembers the proper way to write and respond to various forms of correspondence, how to properly greet guests of various stations, how to properly interact with servants and peers and those above her in society. She knows embroidery and lacework and dozens of dances that are absolutely useless in this day and age. In fact, most of what she remembers is pretty useless.

It could have been worse, Buffy decides, and tries to put the whole thing behind her. But she never quite loses the feeling of being the damsel in distress.

* * *

Xander dresses up as a soldier for Halloween. Because it's cheap (and he can't really afford anything else) and not any more emasculating and uncool than dressing up for Halloween is in the first place. In fact, since most of his costume came from an army surplus store and is therefore pretty authentic, it is in fact kind of cool and masculating.

When the spell takes hold, he is suddenly on his own in the middle of a war zone, without any intel on the situation or terrain. He follows the ghost girl because he doesn't have a better option. He doesn't have any mission or orders to follow, or any way to contact his base or his unit. She, at least, seems to have some idea of what's going on. And since what's going on seems pretty unbelievable, he'll take what he can get and do his best to keep himself and his allies alive.

Afterwards, not a lot changes. Xander has some new stuff in his head – rules and regulations and procedures. The weapons and tactics knowledge will probably be the most useful in the long run. Xander goes over and over it in his head, trying to retain as much of it as he can. Anything to keep himself and his allies alive.

And maybe Xander has new nightmares, full of bullets and blood and the strain of the battlefield. It's not like he didn't already have nightmares of vampires and blood and his friends, dead and turned before his eyes. And maybe there's some signs of PTSD, but between living with his parents and living on the Hellmouth, that's not exactly new either. And if these new memories help keep them alive…

Well, Xander decides, it could have been worse.

* * *

Author's Note: I have a few chapters written up which will post up as I have time. Future chapters will be crossovers, with someone dressed up as something different. Something with worse lingering effects than their in-series costumes. (Mwahaha! ... Ehem.)

So far I've got two chapters for Xander and one each for Buffy and Willow. After what I've written is all posted, I'll mark the story as complete. However, I'm always open to further suggestions. Just leave it in a review. ^_^


	2. Xander, Inuyasha

**AN:** First up in ways it could have been worse, Xander dresses up as an Inuyasha character! I'll post more as I have time/energy. So far I've got two written for Xander and one each for Buffy and Willow. I'm open to suggestions for more, especially for the girls. Have fun reading!

* * *

Xander dresses as Miroku for Halloween. He doesn't know why Uncle Rory had the monk robe in his attic, and doesn't ask. Willow finds him some fabric and a ring that he can use for the wrappings on the wind tunnel's seal. (She also helps him find some earrings that don't involve piercing his ears, but the less said about that shopping trip the better.) He uses a broomstick and some metal rings to jerry rig the Shakujo staff, and it doesn't look half bad.

When he goes to Ethan's with the girls, the only thing he's still looking for is the rosary. (Because the only string of beads he has, he doesn't know where he got, and it's a dayglow neon pink that refuses to be covered up by spray paint no matter how many coats he uses.) He finds a long string of beads in one of the bargain bins. They're the right color, they look like stone, they cost a quarter. Xander snatches them out from under the nose of a tiara-wearing elementary school girl with only the slightest hint of guilt. With the money he has left over, he even finds a little clip-on ponytail that doesn't look too stupid or girly.

When the spell takes hold, he finds himself in a strange land, sans his companions. His spiritual awareness is more a hindrance than a help, because there are demons literally _everywhere_. And unlike the yōkai he normally encounters, which are merely nature spirits, many of these demons are akuma. They are evil aberrations of the natural order of the world.

A yūrei stopped him from using his wind tunnel to dispose of a pack of the tiny monsters. The ghost of the attractive (and scantily clad) young woman seemed to mistake Miroku for someone she had known in life. He went along with her on the off chance that she was correct in saying that the many demons were simply children under some sort of evil spell. If not, they could always be dealt with after her soul had been laid to rest. The best way to do that was by helping her complete whatever unfinished business kept her here.

Over the course of the night, he was slapped by Buffy (thankfully sans Slayer strength) when he asked if she would bear his child, by Cordelia for the same question, and then again by Cordelia when he surreptitiously groped her bottom. Willow glared every time he made a pass at a beautiful girl, while Giles furiously cleaned his glasses. But in the end, the spell was broken and everyone returned to normal.

Except, not quite.

Xander could sense demons better than even Buffy, now. With the proper meditation to focus his new spiritual powers, he found that he could purify them too.

And the wind tunnel remained in his hand, carefully sealed away by a rosary of blessed stone beads.

Xander understood Miroku's lecherous behavior better now. He shared the desire to leave something of himself behind – a legacy, a child to continue the fight that he would inevitably lose. Instead of succumbing to those urges, Xander turned his energies toward research.

There was no Naraku in this world whose death would end his curse, and Xander would not risk passing it on to a new generation – to any child he might have. If he could not find another way to close the wind tunnel…

The hole in his hand would expand year by year until it consumed him. Until then, he would at least live a useful life. He would fight evil and purify demons and keep his friends and comrades safe.

Their lives would be his legacy.


	3. Buffy, Disney

I'm getting into NaNoWriMo and thought I should post up another chapter before I disappear for a month. So next up is Buffy dressing as a Disney character! If you have any suggestions for future costumes, please leave them in a review. (Though at this point I'm unlikely to write a new chapter before December.) Enjoy!

* * *

Buffy doesn't find the sort of costume she was looking for, but she can still be a princess. She finds the right dress, and a black wig, and some lipstick that is a bright red that she normally wouldn't wear. She grabs an apple from the fruit basket in the kitchen at home.

She shows it to the kids in her group and says "Isn't it beautiful?" They shriek and squeal and say "Don't eat it! Don't eat it!" Buffy smiles and slips the apple into her pocket, and thinks maybe this won't be too bad after all.

Buffy's hands are in her pockets when the spell takes hold.

The first thing that Snow White is really aware of is the apple in her hand.

It is smooth and red and smells so delicious and she _wants_ it. She wants it more than she has ever wanted anything in her short life.

After breaking the spell, Giles goes in search of his Slayer. He finds Buffy asleep on the sidewalk.

She won't wake.

Neither Angel's kiss nor Xander's wakes her. Even Willow, blushing redder than her hair, gives it a try.

Nothing.

They take Buffy to the hospital, and contact Joyce.

Buffy is in a coma. She doesn't deteriorate, but neither does she show any sign of waking.

She just sleeps.


	4. Willow, Harry Potter

**AN:** Wow, I had not realized I hadn't posted all of this yet. Whoops. Here's the next installment - Willow as a Harry Potter character. I've got one more chapter written, another for Xander, which I'll post up as I have time. But probably not before next week.

* * *

With her red hair, when Buffy suggested a witch costume, it seemed like an obvious choice. Especially if it gave her an excuse to _not_ wear the barely-there costume that had accompanied the suggestion.

Instead, Willow bought a black robe and pointed hat, and a red and yellow striped tie. She carefully painted the appropriate crests onto the robe and tie with fabric paint. She sanded and stained a stick for a magic wand. (And, hey, in a pinch it could double as a stake. Though hopefully it wouldn't come to that. Because little kids. And trick-or-treating. And those kinds of things don't go well with vampires.)

The finishing touch was an old, unused, leather-bound journal to which she applied some embossing stamps and a little bit of gold leaf paint.

When the spell took hold, Ginny Weasley just about cried. She'd blacked out again! And this time it didn't look like she was anywhere near Hogwarts anymore. If she didn't know better, she'd think she was in a muggle town somewhere. But that was practically impossible! The nearest muggle village to Hogwarts was far too far away for her to have walked to. And if she had, her legs would be positively _aching_ from the trek, which they weren't.

Ginny clenched her fists nervously, trying to decide what to do. In one hand she felt the familiar, comforting weight of her wand. (Thank goodness. That was something anyway.) But in her other hand…

Ginny stared in horror at the familiar journal, the leather cover stamped with the name T. M. Riddle in fading gold leaf.

She had thrown it away! She was sure she had, and for a while the black-outs had stopped. Merlin, how had the horrible thing gotten back to her? Ginny wanted to drop it into the street, kick it into the gutter. See if it could survive being soaked in sewer water. No one would write in the horrid little book then!

Instead, against her will, Ginny Weasley reached into her pocket and dug out a self-inking quill. She sat down on the curb. And she wrote.

The spell was broken and the day was saved.

It wasn't until school the following morning that Willow was missed.

She had been found dead in the aftermath of the Halloween fiasco, with not a mark on her to indicate the cause. Her wand was missing, and her previously empty journal was covered in layer after layer of words, forming an illegible spider web of ink across every page.

Within a week, a handsome young magic user was making waves in the supernatural community. He was quickly gaining allies, and power. To all appearances, he was preparing for war.

He called himself Lord Voldemort.


End file.
